Deadlock on El Salvador situation may be broken.

The Security Council on 30 September reaffirmed its strong support for the urgent completion of the peace process in El Salvador and expressed its readiness to support the implementation of a settlement. The Government of El Salvador and the Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) were urged at the next negotiating round to proceed urgently in reaching a cease-fire and an overall settlement of the armed conflict.

In unanimously adopting resolution 714 (1991), the Council also urged both sides to exercise maximum and continuing restraint, particularly with respect to the civilian population, in order to create the best climate for a successful conclusion of the negotiations.

Both sides were called upon to continue to cooperate fully with the United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador, known by its Spanish acronym ONUSAL.

The Council action came just days after Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced that the Government of El Salvador and FMLN had signed on 25 September a "broad agreement on conditions and guarantees for the reintegration into society of members of the FMLN".

"It is my firm expectation that this agreement will break the deadlock in the negotiations", the Secretary-General stated.

Efforts on all pending substantive matters and a "brief, dynamic cease-fire" would resume shortly, he added. "The goal set when I asked President (Alfredo) Cristiani and the five members of the General Command of the FMLN to meet with me for consultations at United Nations Headquarters has thus been met--the Gordian knot has been untied", the Secretary-General concluded.

A series of meetings began at Headwuarters on 16 September between President Cristiani and his delegations, five FMLN commanders and the Secretary-General and his Personal Representative for Central America, Alvaro de Soto. It climaxed an 18-month-old negotiating process under UN auspices.

The negotiations began in September 1989 when the two parties agreed to initiate a dialogue aimed at ending the armed conflict in El Salvador by political means.

Under the 25 September agreement (to be known as the New York Agreement), which complements earlier accords on human rights protection and political reform, the parties agreed that:

* The National Commission for the Consolidation of Peace, known by its Spanish acronym COPAZ, will oversee the carrying-out of the accords. It will consists of two members each from the Government and the FMLN, with another six members named by political parties holding seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Roman Catholic Church and ONUSAL will have the role of observers.

* The armed forces will be "purified" on the basis of evaluation of its members by an ad hoc commission. Two army officers would take part in the deliberations, without a vote.

* In principle, the size of the army would be reduced, although the numbers and details were still to be negotiated.

FMLN members would be able to seek appointment to a new civilian-controlled police force without discrimination, and the Government would protect the right of families to hold on to the land they had occupied.

President Cristiani predicted an end to El Salvador's 11-year-old civil war by the end of 1991. He said only a handful of issues, mainly having to do with the reform and reduction of the armed forces, remained undecided before a cease-fire. According to him, there was already consensus on some of them.

"We have been able to clear the road so that the process can proceed with a lot more speed and agility", he stated, adding that the remaining issues to be addressed constitute a "compressed agenda" of difficult but soluble disputes.

Schafik Handal, one of five FMLN commanders, said the agreement was of "great transcendence", constituting "a new victory for democracy in El Salvador". It represented social and political advances made possible by the civil war.

Framework for

negotiations

On 30 August, Mr. de Soto told reporters in New York that the framework for negotiations was provided by the Geneva Agreement of April 1990, and a calendar for negotiations was laid out by the Caracas Agenda of May 1990 in two stages--the first, to reach political agreements leading to a ceasefire; and the second, to negotiate reintegration of FMLN members into society.

"Remarkable achievements", he said, had already been made with agreements on human rights, constitutional reforms, the judiciary, the armed forces, the electoral system, as well as the establishment of a "Commission on Truth".

On 1 August, the United States and the USSR submitted to the Secretary-General a joint communique supporting his efforts and suggesting that he personally get involved in the negotiations.

ONUSAL launched

On 16 September, ONUSAL (Observadores de las Naciones Unidas en El Salvador) issued its first report (A/45/1055-S/23037). The Mission was authorized up to June 1992 by the Security Council (resolution 693 (1991) of 20 May) to verify the observance of human rights in that country.

Philippe Texier, Director of ONUSAL's Human Rights Division, stated that the persistence of the armed conflict in El Salvador and its recent escalation were creating a considerable amount of tension affecting the fundamental rights of the people. The absence of a cease-fire was complicating the Mission's verification task in a variety of ways.

On 26 July 1991--exactly one year after the signing in San Jose, Costa Rica, of the Agreement on Human Rights between El Salvador and FMLN--ONUSAL was launched in San Salvador to verify fulfilment of the commitments undertaken by both parties to respect and promote human rights in El Salvador.

"There are high expectations among Salvadorians that our presence will help to improve the situation in El Salvador", said Iqbal Riza, ONUSAL's Chief of Mission, adding that the Mission would not only observe and report on the human rights situation, but also investigate and resolve cases.

"We will work with the Government on one side, and with the FMLN on the other side", stated Mr. Riza who functions as the Secretary-General's Special Delegate.

The Mission has chosen as its slogan "Human rights--the way to peace".

ONUSAL is to be deployed in two phases. During the first phase, about 60 days, central offices and four regional offices (San Salvador, San Miguel, Santa Ana and San Vicente) were established. In addition, two subregional offices--in Chalatenango and Usulutan--were inaugurated. The Mission familiarized itself with El Salvador's administrative, legal and judicial systems and established working contacts and procedures.

In the second phase, tentatively scheduled for October 1991, ONUSAL would actively monitor the human rights situation in El Salvador, investigate specific cases of alleged human rights violations, promote human rights and recommend ways to eliminate violations, and report to the Secretary-General and, through him, to the Security Council and the General Assembly.

Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Spain and Venezuela have provided military personnel to the ONUSAL operation.

Meetings on Guatemala

Two new rounds of talks (22-26 July and 19-21 September) were held in Mexico between Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG), aimed at ending the internal armed conflict in Guatemala and bringing about national reconciliation.

Both rounds were held in the presence of the Conciliator, Monsignor Rodolfo Quezada Toruno, also Chairman of Guatemala's National Reconciliation Commission, and Francesc Vendrell, representing the Secretary-General as a UN Observer.

The July round dealt with the first general agenda item--democratization and human rights--agreed in Mexico on 26 April, while the September round centred on human rights.

Declaration of

San Salvador

In a meeting to establish appropriate institutional machinery for the effective attainment of Central American integration in the political, economic, social and cultural domains, the Presidents of six Central American countries--Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama--adopted on 17 July the "Declaration of San Salvador" at the tenth Summit of Central American Presidents (15-17 July, San Salvador).

In the text (A/45/1039-S/22828), the Presidents took account of the results of endeavours undertaken in the quest for peace and the economic and social welfare of their peoples, through respect for human rights, national reconciliation and dialogue, consolidation of democracy and the strengthening of democratic institutions and the rule of law, as well as of machinery to promote a climate of confidence, cooperation and security. They considered that the recent global transformations offered new prospects for integration in the region and a new international order for Central America.

The Presidents also vigorously condemned violence, terrorism and acts of destabilization against the democratic process, as well as the use of violence for political ends. They called, "for the good of Central America" and with UN verification, for the disarmament and demobilization on the FMLN, so that it might join fully in El Salvador's civil, institutional and political life.

The beginning of the preparatory work for the establishment of the Central American Parliament was approved. The United States was urged to speed negotiations on free-trade agreements with Central American countries. Canada was urged to participate in trade liberalization arrangements which the United States and Mexico had offered.

Honduran request

On 6 August, Honduras asked the UN Observer Group in Central America (ONUCA) to urgently establish observation posts along its border with Nicaragua. It said armed incidents had occurred recently in whic Sandinist Army personnel had clashed with elements opposed to the Nicaraguan Government. Observation posts would prevent the entry of these elements coming from Nicaragua "which are seeking to destabilize that country's Government".